LinguistList, FYI: Linguistic Institute of Ireland

[Elizabeth J. Pyatt]

Also from Linguist List, this is a note about the 
potential closing of the Institiúid 
Teangeolaíochta Éireann (ITÉ)


>
>
>1)
>Date:  Sat, 20 Dec 2003 17:58:19 +0200
>From:  "Bernard Spolsky" <spolsb at mail.biu.ac.il>
>Subject:  Linguistic Institute of Ireland
>
>-------------------------------- Message 1 -------------------------------
>
>Date:  Sat, 20 Dec 2003 17:58:19 +0200
>From:  "Bernard Spolsky" <spolsb at mail.biu.ac.il>
>Subject:  Linguistic Institute of Ireland
>
>Having heard of the intention of the Irish Ministry of Education to close
>the Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann (ITÉ), four of us sent the following
>letter to the Irish Times where it was published on 17 December 2003:
>
>Madam, - Issues of national language policy are moving up the agenda of all
>European governments. Whether it is concern with fluency and literacy in
>stated languages, maintenance of minority languages, learning foreign
>languages, coping with the languages of immigrants or a combination of these
>issues, the need for specialised national research and monitoring centres is
>now universally recognised. While many countries are consolidating,
>developing and integrating their research capacities in these areas, the
>Minister for Education and Science in Ireland appears intent on moving in
>the opposite direction. The decision to discontinue funding for Ireland's
>national linguistics research institute, Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann
>(ITÉ), effectively forces its immediate closure. The team of specialist
>researchers and valuable databases assembled after substantial state
>investment will be dispersed, and current programmes terminated in
>mid-stream. Even on crude cost-effectiveness calculations this action, and
>the manner of its implementation, seems to us indefensible. The Irish
>language promotion enterprise has unique characteristics and other countries
>have learned valuable lessons from your efforts. The considerable academic
>interest internationally in the Irish language maintenance effort in recent
>decades, however, has arisen in large part from ITÉ's excellent work. We
>believe Institiúid Teangeolaíochta Éireann is an irreplaceable social,
>educational, and linguistic resource and its value in terms of its
>contribution nationally and internationally greatly exceeds the modest
>funding it has received. It would be an extraordinary waste of resources and
>talent to abandon its prestigious programme of research and to disperse its
>academic staff.
>
>- Yours, etc.,
>SUZANNE ROMAINE, Merton Professor of English Language, University of Oxford
>BERNARD SPOLSKY, Professor Emeritus, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
>MIQUEL STRUBELL, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Barcelona
>JOSHUA FISHMAN, Professor Emeritus, Yeshiva University, New York, US.
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>LINGUIST List: Vol-14-3554


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